Фрэнк Генри Уэстхаймер: Американдық химиктің ғылыми еңбектері мен жетістіктері

American chemist
applying techniques from physical to organic chemistry and integrating the two fields. Westheimer worked with John Gamble Kirkwood on the Bjerrum electrostatic analysis of carboxylic acids;
with Joseph Edward Mayer on the calculation of molecular mechanics;
explored the mechanisms of enzyme catalysis with Birgit Vennesland
and determined the mechanisms of chromic acid oxidations and kinetic isotope effects. He received the National Medal of Science in 1986 "For his series of extraordinary, original and penetrating investigations of the mechanisms of organic and enzymic reactions, which have played an unequaled role in the advancement of our knowledge of the ways in which chemical and biochemical processes proceed."

Frank Henry Westheimer was born on January 15, 1912, to Henry F. Westheimer (1870–1960) and Carrie C (Burgunder) Westheimer (1887–1972) of Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1932. He went on to Harvard University, where he earned his masters in chemistry in 1933 and his doctorate in chemistry in 1935. Westheimer came to Harvard hoping to do research with James Bryant Conant. When told that Conant would not take on new students, Westheimer outwaited him and was finally accepted as his last graduate student. Westheimer did some work on semicarbazone at Conant's suggestion. blockquote|"The notion that Conant essentially was saying, 'Well, that problem is all right, but good God, you can do better,' was very important to me. From then on, I tried to ask myself about problems, whether they were really worth the investment of time." In 1935 and 1936, as a National Research Council Fellow, Westheimer worked with physical chemist Louis P. Hammett at Columbia University. Hammett was a founder of the field of physical organic chemistry.

Westheimer became a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1954, a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1976, and a foreign member of the Royal Society of London in 1983. He chaired the National Academy of Sciences Committee for the Survey of Chemistry from 1964 to 1965. It identified biochemistry as a promising and overlooked area for medical and pharmaceutical research. Westheimer served on the Council of the National Academy of Sciences for two terms, from 1973 to 1975 and 1976 1978, as well as being a Councillor of the American Philosophical Society (1981 1984), and Secretary of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1985 1990). the Robert A. Welch Foundation Award in 1982, the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement in 1981, the U. S. National Medal of Science in 1986, the Priestley Medal in 1988; the Repligen Award for the Chemistry of Biological Processes in 1992; and the Nakanishi Prize in 1997.

Frank H. Westheimer was married in 1937 to Jeanne E. Friedman. They had two children, Ellen Westheimer and Ruth Susan Westheimer.